1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to fluid containers, and more particularly, to opaque dispensers with means for displaying physical characteristics of the beverage within the container.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Commercial fluid containers of the type having a hollow, insulated body made of stainless steel or other opaque materials with a closable top for direct receipt of beverage from a beverage brewer and a bottom supported above a support surface with a faucet for serving beverage from the hollow body into individual serving cups or the like are know. Because the hollow body is made of opaque materials the quantity, or level, of the beverage can not be ascertained simply by viewing the outside of the dispenser, such as is possible with transparent glass carafes and the like.
In the past, so-called “sight tubes” mounted on the outside of the dispenser but in fluid communication with the interior were used to provide a visual indication of the level of the beverage within the hollow body. However, these glass tubes were fragile and would become stained over time and presented cleaning and hygienic problems. In order to avoid these problems, it is known to provide an electronic level sensing circuit with a probe within the dispenser body and a visual electronic display mounted to the exterior of the body and responsive to the probe to provide an indication of the beverage level. Such a dispenser is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,741,180 issued May 25, 2004 to Zbignicw G. Lassota for an invention in “Beverage Dispensing Urn with Electronic Display”, which is hereby incorporated by reference. In the probe used in this dispenser, conductive lands on the exterior of a probe body are exposed to the beverage. This resistance varies depending upon the level of the beverage and is measured to determine the quantity of beverage.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,798,373 issued Sep. 21, 2010 to Zbigniew G. Lassota for an invention in an “Airpot Fluid Container with Flow Thorough Lid and Display and Method”, hereby incorporated by reference, the probe for the display is formed by a series of capacitors at different levels. The capacitance that varies depending upon whether the capacitor is below or above the surface of the beverage. The capacitive plates do not have direct contact with the beverage but sense the beverage indirectly due to changes in dielectric constant.
In order to produce these level sensing probes, it is necessary to provide leads from each of the lands, or sensing elements, forming either a capacitor or a resistor within the dispenser boy with a sensing circuit located outside of the dispenser body and to hold the sensing element in a fixed spatial relationship relative to each other and to the bottom of the dispenser body. In the aforementioned patents, the sensing elements are directly mounted to a hollow down tube that extends downwardly from a funnel at the top of the dispenser to convey freshly brewed beverage to the bottom of the dispenser. The funnel is part of a funnel assembly within which the display circuitry is protectively mounted and to which the beverage level display is mounted.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/193,091 of Marek K. Kwiatkowski and Andrzej Kaminski, filed Jul. 28, 2011, for an invention entitled “Hot Fluid Container with Level Sensing Probe and Method of Making Same”, methods are shown to make a strip with either resistive or capacitive level sensing capabilities. These strips are mounted to down tubes of an integrated funnel assembly which include a controller and a display fixedly connected together with the sensing strip such that they could not be easily separated or disassembled. These strips are capable of sensing only levels and not other characteristics of the beverage.
These inventions perform satisfactorily but do not enable or facilitate an easy separation of control circuitry from sensing strips. Accordingly, if repair is required, the entire dispenser must be removed from service which results in loss time and travel as well the need to maintain an inventory of loaner dispensers for use when the dispenser being repaired is absent.